Israeli FM praises Kerry's peace efforts

JERUSALEM, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman praised U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for his efforts to instill peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

In an interview with Israel's Army Radio on Sunday, Lieberman called Kerry a "true friend" of Israel, and said that there's evidence to that throughout Kerry's 29 years in the U.S. Senate.

Lieberman reiterated similar views he expressed on Friday, in a speech in which he slammed the members of the Jewish Home far- right party for lashing out at the U.S. secretary of state.

His statements were made in reply to several harsh statements thrown at him from far-right politicians in the past two weeks. Some of the right-wing politicians said Kerry's recent speech warning Israel of a growing boycott if the peace talks fail was " offensive."

"It's natural to have differences of opinion, but to call somebody anti-Semitic or an enemy of the people... because of difference of opinion? We shouldn't take friends and turn them into enemies," Lieberman said on Sunday.

Lieberman, who resumed office in November, had sent appeasing statements to the United States in the past months and held a series of meetings both in the United States and in Israel with American officials, including Kerry himself.

Kerry is currently working on reaching a framework agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that would outline the progress of the negotiations over core issues in the upcoming year.